Berry-washing device.



U. E. LUETZBR. BERRY WASHING DEVICE. urmonmn FILED 001.4, 1909.

42 Amm /J a;

Patented Jan. 10

Fig.4;

WITNESSES illustratin CHRISTIAN E. LOETZER, 0F SAYRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

BERRY-WASHING- n'nvron.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed October 4, 1909. Serial No. 520,853.

To all whom it may concern: i

Be it known that I, CHRISTIAN E. Lon'r- ZER, a citizen of the UnitedStates, residing at Sayre, in the county of Bradford and State ofPennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inBerry- Washing Devices; and I do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will 611-,

able others skilled in the art to which it ap-' pertains to make and usethe same.

My invention relates to screening receptacles wherein articles of foodrequiring to be cleansed before use are retained during such cleansing.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a wire-screen vesselthat can be used to quickly and thoroughly wash, in a sanitary manner,all kinds of berries, small fruits, small vegetables, dried fruits,etc., preparatory to serving or cooking'them.

Another object of the invention is to provide an improved constructionof wirescreen vessel adapted for the accomplishment of the foregoinobject.

The invention will %rst be described with reference to the accompanyingdrawings and then more particularly pointed out 1n the ap ended claim.

In t e drawings :Figure 1- is aside elevation of an embodiment of theinvention, a manner of using it. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the vesselshown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is an enlarged section taken vertically throughthe side of the vessel. Fig. 4 is a fragmentary View of a portion of thewire screen, showing a referred mesh full size increased one-thir ,toallow reproduction of the drawin to patent size. Fig. 5 is a horizontalsection through the upright seam of the side of the vesse Referring tothe illustrated embodiment of theinvention, 1 denotes the body of thevessel havin an open mouth and provided with a raise bottom 2; and 3denotes a removable cover for the mouth of the vessel.

The body, its bottom, and the cover are each formed of wire nettingshaped to the desired form and mounted on a metal frame. The wirenetting used is formed of compara tively fine wire and of small mesh sothat while permitting the free flow of water through the vessel, it willretain the articles being washed, even though they maybe small in size,as peas or huckleberrles.

To form the body 1, a section of wire netting is bent into a circularform having a smaller bottom than top, and the ends of the section ofnetting are inserted and suitably secured, as by soldering, in theadjacent folds of a connecting rib 4 formed by doubling a strip of sheetmetal'twice upon itself, as shown in detail in Fig. 5. The up per andlower edges of the wire netting forming the body 1 are each providedwith an annular rim 5 formedofa stri of sheet metal doubled or folded onthe e ge of the wire netting and secured thereto by crimping, solderingor otherwise. These rims form 'a frame that aids in maintaining the bodyin shape; and they also form a binding for the edges; and the rib 4 maybe connected to the rims 5, bysoldering or otherwlse.

The bottom 2 is formed by securing a circular section of wire netting tothe horizon tal flange of a sheet metal rim or ring-6 of L-shapedcross-section, the vertical flange of therin being suitably secured tothe inside of the ody 1 at the desired distance above its lower edge. Itwill be observed that the.

rims 5, the strip or rib 4 which extends be- Patented Jan. 10, 1911."

tween them, and the ring 6 form a skeleton frame for the body 1.

Thecover 3 is formed similarly to the bottom 2, a circular section ofwire netting being suitably secured, as by soldering, to the horizontalflange of a metal rim or ring 7 of L-sha ed cross section, the verticalflange of the rmg fitting down around the upper edge of the body 1 whenin place on the latter. disposed lateral handles; and the cover isprovided with a handle.

In the use of the device, the articles to be washed, berries forexample, are placed in the vessel and the cover placed thereon, thevessel is then grasped, a convenient manner being illustrated in Fig. 1.As there shown, one or more fingers are inserted in the opposite handlesof the body, and the thumbs are rested upon the cover holding the,latter firmly in place. The vessel may be then submerged in water andagitated or it may be held under a faucet, the water from which will runthrough the vessel and cleanse the berries, the vessel being shifted andshaken of water thereby insuring their thorough cleansing. The coverprevents the berries from falling out of the mouth of the vessel duringthe Washing operation; and the The body 1 is provided with oppositely'to bring all of the berries under the stream raised bottom insuresproper drainage when the vessel is placed upon a support forthatpurpose.

It will be seen that the invention obviates the necessity of touchingthe cleansed articles with the hands. Therefore by means of its usearticles of food are cleansed in a perfectly sanitary, mannerpreparatory to serving or cooking.

Although the use of the invention has been described in connection withWater as the cleansing agent, it will be of course -underst md that thescreen-vessel could be immersedand agitated in a prepared solution of acleansing or germicidal character and the contents of the vessel thuspurified.

The invention is particularly adapted for use in washing and cleansingberries of .all kinds, as for example, strawberries, raspberries,vhuckleberries, cranberries, small fruits, ascherries and grapes, driedfruit products as prunes, beans, peas, raisins and currents, and smallvegetables as radishes, etc.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

A device for use in washing berries and other articles of food,comprising a pan-like vessel and a removable wire-screen cover therefor,the vessel consisting of a skeleton frame composed of top and bottomrings and an intermediate ring near the bottom ring and a rib interposedbetween said rings, a wire-screen band connecting the top andbottomrings and connected to the intermediate ring and constituting thewall of the vessel, and a wire-screen diaphragm secured within theintermediate ring.

In testimon whereof I aflix my signature, in presence 0' two witnesses.I

CHRISTIAN E. LOETZER. Witnesses:

WILLIAM T. CAREY, EDWARD F MERGEREAU.

